Guide and Informational Signs: Routes, Destinations, and Mileposts
What this domain tests
Guide signs get you where you are going and tell you where you are when something goes wrong. Kentucky's test samples route identification, service signing, exit numbering, and the milepost system used for emergency location.
Route identification
- Interstate shield - red, white, and blue. U.S. route shield - white shield with black outline.
- Kentucky state route marker - a white circle with black numerals and a black border. This is a signature Kentucky detail: a circular marker means a state-maintained route, not a county road and not a U.S. route.
- Kentucky also signs its named parkways (for example the Western Kentucky Parkway and Bluegrass Parkway) with their own markers and names rather than numbers.
Destinations, services, and location
- Green signs give destinations, distances, and exits. Blue signs show services: gas, food, lodging, hospitals, and rest areas. Brown signs show recreation and cultural attractions.
- Exit numbers on Kentucky interstates are milepost-based, so Exit 53 sits close to mile 53 - not the 53rd exit in sequence.
- Mileposts increase south to north and west to east. They are the state's location reference for 911 calls; Kentucky also posts milepoint markers on its parkways.
Worked example
You break down on I-65 northbound and see a small green post reading "51." You read a sign saying "Louisville 48." The post gives your exact location for a dispatcher - "I-65 northbound near mile 51" - while the sign tells you Louisville is 48 miles away. Reporting the milepost is far more useful than naming the last town you passed.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming exit numbers run sequentially; mistaking the circular Kentucky route marker for a U.S. shield; confusing blue service signs with brown recreation signs; and reading a distance-to-destination figure as a distance from the last exit.